 Poster: A snowHead
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My wife has had terrible trouble with painfull boots and needs help? Her toes go numb and seemed to be in agony? To big, to small, cold feet, high arch? Going to Avoriaz and need to find an expert. Please help.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mally, Sounds like our greatest enemy, lack of flexion of the Achillies tendon, not much can be done without the right boot, heel lifts and a good exsercise programme. Does she wear high heels alot?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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If you're renting a car, just take an hours drive on an afternoon to visit SMALLZOOKEEPER in Cham. I can't think of any non-chain ski stores in Morzine or Avoriaz and didn't hear any recommendations for any while I was out there this season - there might be some good ones but people fly from England to see SZK and co so that's probably a good recommendation 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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DaveC, 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks to both for replies. Ok, here we go..........she's been skiing a few times and has had rented boots in the past that didn't seem to bad, this was in USA and the boots were on the large side I suspect. As she has progressed it is as if the problem has got worse. Last time we went to Les Arcs 1800, the rental boots were bad, got a bigger pair, still bad. I then bought her a pair of Nordica GTS-8, seemed OK in the shop but on the slopes she was in tears with the pain. Back to shop. The chap didn't speak english to well.....much better than my French but still difficult to explain exact problem. Spoke to travel rep, advised to see a guy called Boris who was great, customs made footbeds, heat shaped liner as this was not done where we bought boots. Boot stretching in various places.....poor Boris was stratching his head after the 4-5th visit. I ended up carrying her boots in a rucksack and she'd put them on at the top, ski a bit, have to loosen the boots or even take them off for a bit, ski a bit.......you get the idea. We are coming to Avoriaz 26th Jan and off to Jackson Hole in March so we'd love to get this sorted otherwise I fear she will sack the whole idea of Skiing. At the mo I have got her a pair of KNEISSL Rail boots of the internet for £50 just in case they work, semi soft boots???? She has very high arches, size 5 (uk) and doesn't wear high heals! I think she might have bad circulation cos in bed her hands and feet are always cold. So would boot heaters work? What about foam injected liners? She does have a bony lump on the top of one foot from breaking a small bone but it isn't that big. Her calves aren't that big either!!!! The problem she describes is her toes going numb then just intense pain till boots come off so it doesn't sound like the cold. Last time we went she was still using tubes but we will now try tech socks!
Any advice would be a big help.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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mally, Your throwing good money after bad here, so STOP. Phew. The problem(i think) is Physiological, no more money needs to be spent other than a spot of time and a couple of extra bits. Its the fact that the required angle to be in inside her boots is not permitted by the tendon structure of the lower leg. This is very common today, hense i asked about high heels, as this just compounds the problem. The high arch is the give away, why is the arch high? Because the tendon between the two points is too short, this most commonly follows around to the achillies. The problem being that the achillies doesn't want to stretch to allow the skier to flex the boot and weight the ski properly. The result is a fulcrum, using the ball of the foot as the crux for energy release. Try this. Place your hand flat on the table, palm down, now whilst stood up with your hand at waist height try and flex you elbow forward over your fingers, can you see where the weight is being forced? Under the Knuckles of your hand. Same problem i suspect your wife has. Lifting the heel will give her extra flexion, but, will increase the height of the instep and will mean if she's tired she excessivley pressure the tail of her skis. It's not simple and there are things we can do, but without proper stretching, this will always be a problem.
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Smallzookeeper, thanks for this, I like this. Please tell me more about what stretches might be helpful, do you mean as in excercises or pre-ski warm up type things?
Cheers,
Mally
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